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Down Below (Television Thoughts: Below Deck Season Five, Bravo)

I have just watched all episodes of Season Five of Below Deck, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this season. There was a time when I watched this show religiously, and I have a skipped a season or two, but it still feels right for me – I like the aspirational quality of watching charter after charter, and at the same time the drama of the deck crew always sucks me in. That said, I think there is a lot more ‘manufactured’ drama now than before – situations are set up much too obviously now, but at the same time there’s fun in the familiarity, and it is kind of fun to see these people fall in the ‘traps.’

Captain Lee is still affably difficult. I don’t know if he is my favorite person in the world, but I have accepted how he is by now. Kate Chastain, I feel the same way. She is petty and bitchy, but thoroughly enjoyable to watch. In here, sometimes I cringe when she is mean to Jen, but Jen totally deserves it most times. Nico brings a whole lot of drama this season – he is brooding because he is dealing with the sudden death of his brother, but he is human enough to break up temporarily with his girlfriend as he embarks on a fling with Brianna, one of the stews. The chef Matt doesn’t have much of a personality, and it even showed in the food he prepared. And they probably thought they would get drama with Bruno, the deckhand from Portugal, but his Instagram feed now is more entertaining than anything he did this season. But all in all, the show was much fun to watch, and I am not even that shameful about it being a guilty pleasure.